>>> "Ian" == Ian Carr-de Avelon <avelonat_private> writes: >> Diversity makes for resilience, and vice versa. Okay aleph, it's >> not a bug but it is a way we should be thinking. Ian> We can think about it, but what can we do about it? Just as in Ian> farming there are reasons why we have the monoculture, and just Ian> like they buy more pesticides, we buy virus scanners to fix our Ian> solution rather than designing another solution. Very true, but just because it *is* doesn't mean that's the only way it *can be*. Monoculture of IT infrastructure is a recent trend, even in the short history of computing (the same holds true in agriculture, incidentally). What we can do is promote diversity. The reason monoculture is so persuasive is that it promises greater short term efficiency--and it tends to deliver it, too. It takes a long-term view to realize that the costs will probably outweigh the benefits, and our culture is really bad at long-term views. (Evolution is really good at long-term views, which is why the biological analogy is a good one to learn from.) We are not powerless! It is however true that if you are driven only by this quarter's bottom line, you are not likely to change the world. Ian> In fact we have Ian> even less ability to move away from it than farming. If a farmer Ian> bucks the trend and therebye has a crop when the neighbours have Ian> none, he has an advantage. If I don't buy CISCO, maybe there Ian> will be some time when my router works but the whole net is down Ian> with IOS exploits. Good point. What we really need is to keep compatibility without the global vulnerability, which is absolutely possible (my Mac users didn't have to blink at explore or melissa, for instance--but they can exchange mail with anyone on the net). Biologically, I can eat corn but I don't succumb to weevils (if that seems an inappropriate analogy, think harder about it! corn and I exchange nutrients, not email messages). Ian> You want no Ian> connections between like equipment, but always have network Ian> connectivity if one type of equipment is down. No. Connections are vital: it's the lack of diversity that makes for vulnerability. What I want is diversity. The trend is reversible: look at what is happening with organic agriculture. Microsoft, Monsanto--they need not rule the world, though they try. Ethan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 14:49:58 PDT